The Spring 2024 Manga Guide

A Sign of Affection

What's It About? 

Yuki, who's always been deaf, is used to communicating with sign language and her phone. But she's not used to English, so when a tourist from overseas asks for directions, she nearly panics...until a handsome stranger steps in to help. His name is Itsuomi, and it turns out he's a friend of a friend. A charismatic globetrotter, Itsuomi speaks three languages, but he's never had a deaf friend. The two feel drawn to each other and plan a date on a romantic winter's night, but Yuki's friend is afraid that she might be setting herself up to get hurt. Could this be something real? Or will these feelings melt away with the snow?

A Sign of Affection has a story and art by Suu Morishita. English translation by Christine Dashiell. This volume is lettered by Carl Vanstiphout and Lys Blakeslee and published by Kodansha Comics (May 14, 2024).

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Is It Worth Reading?

MrAJCosplay
Rating:

I'm so glad we're getting more romance stories that go beyond just high school. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to revisit what it was like being a teenager, the good and the bad. But as someone in their early thirties, I know there are just as many, if not more interesting relationship dynamics you can explore with adults. The great thing about signs of affection is that this story is only one of many positives going for it. A Sign of Affection is about a couple of different young adults interacting and blossoming in different romances with each other. Specifically, the series' overarching theme seems to be about the world intersecting. Everyone comes from different walks of life and carries with them a plethora of experiences that come from going through specific circumstances. When you get into a relationship with somebody, you aren't just spending time with them, you are interacting with their world and appreciating what it has to offer.

Framing this idea through the main couple, where one of them is deaf, was a brilliant idea, not just because it's refreshing to read a story with some actual deaf representation but because I love how it emphasizes the little things that come with interacting in that world. As someone who has worked with people who are legally deaf, I know that the series glosses over certain things and heightens others, such as our lead's ability to read lips or the speed at which certain things are grasped. Still, outside of that, the way that her love interests interact with her limited hearing was brilliant. This is mainly because her being deaf is also used as a framing device for how much progress is made in the relationship. The closer he wants to get to her, the more he takes the time to learn about her.

Then, there's a beautiful contrast between their relationship and how others interact. Some people don't take the time to properly understand what other people want or how they want to be treated, and that creates a rift in communication. A Sign of Affection shows that through the other side, characters are also handled well with gorgeously expressive artwork to help carry those feelings. The fact that I could read three volumes of this story in this one omnibus collection was a treat, and if you're a fan of adult romances, I think you'll be doing yourself a massive disservice not to check this series out.

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Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

This is one of those series I have very mixed feelings about. That's in line with my general experience with Suu Morishita manga; most of them start very well and then start making decisions I disagree with, or don't sit well with me, around volume four. Luckily for this Guide, this omnibus edition of A Sign of Affection only covers the series' first three volumes. Hence, the issues are only just starting to rear their heads, and on the whole, this is my favorite part of the series, which I eventually ended up dropping.

Its start, however, is pretty wonderful. It follows Yuki, a Deaf college student, working her way through the world, and her lack of hearing is more of a problem for other people who can't be bothered to see beyond it than it is for her. She has her problems navigating life, but they're only variations on the same issues we've seen in hearing characters: trouble communicating, trouble finding a job, and that sort of thing. Her deafness compounds them, or at least makes them challenging in different ways, but it doesn't define her or what she's capable of. It's like a less-harrowing, more romance-centric version of A Silent Voice. She meets Itsuomi by chance on the train, and their relationship starts in an appealing combination of quickly and at a measured pace: they're both attracted to and fascinated by each other right away, but they also take the time to get to know each other. He's willing to learn to sign, which is a major plus because not even Yuki's own family has, which is horrible.

My issues with the series are present here, although not as apparent as in later volumes. Itsuomi's first instinct is always to touch Yuki to guide or move her, and I wouldn't say I like that; it feels both infantilizing and like he's not respecting her bodily autonomy. (She doesn't mind, but I wonder if that's the product of a combination of the romance genre and hearing creators.) By volume two, he also gives off the impression of looking for his dream girl and deciding that Yuki is the closest thing to it, and to be fair, that's an issue I've had in Morishita's other two series available in English. They write strong, engaging heroines, but their heroes are lacking in the expressive department, and Itsuomi is no exception.

Still, this first omnibus is lovely. For the most part, Yuki's deafness is treated with respect, and she is just a ball of sunshine. People's reactions to her not hearing ultimately reveal a lot more about them than her. Even though I think it drops off later, this is a good collection, showing Suu Morishita's art and storytelling at their best.